RallyNorth.net

Lunetta master of the hidden-ball trick

Thursday, May, 15 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

There was no sign, no call from the bench, not even a scouting report picked up at a recent walk-through.

North Andover High first baseman Gary Lunetta pulled off the hidden-ball trick for a key out against North Reading this week. The senior was pretty much on his own ... with a minor assist from pitcher Brian Meikle.

The play came early in Tuesday's Cape Ann League clash of titans after Hornet speedster Darren Hartwell had beaten out an infield hit on a bang-bang play.

"I saw his helmet came off after he hit the bag and noticed he wasn't really looking when he came back to the base," said Lunetta. "I looked at (Meikle) and he read my eyes. He helped out a lot by going to a knee to tie his shoe, and I just held the ball."

Hartwell took a half-step off the bag and Lunetta applied the tag.

"First time I've ever seen it in a high school game," said base umpire Jim Young, who to his credit was right on top of the action.

These eyes have watched nearly 15 years of high-school action, hundreds of games, and never seen the hidden-ball pulled off until Lunetta did the trick.

"I had never even tried it before," said Lunetta, who drove in a pair of runs and scored the game-winner in the Knights' 6-5 decision.

"But I noticed earlier in the game that their guys were stepping off the base to take their leads before Brian got on the rubber."

The heady Lunetta is one of the many reasons the Knights find themselves alone at the top of the CAL Large headed into the season homestretch.

An aggressive swinger, he currently stands at .357 on the year with 13 runs scored and 11 RBIs.

North Andover now faces a crucial stretch with three league games left | Wilmington (Saturday), Masconomet (Tuesday) and the league finale against Pentucket (Friday in the opening round of the Lawrence Invitational).

Three wins and the title is theirs, solely and completely.